Study: 80-Percent of Viewers stop Watching Video After First Buffer

Online video viewers, it seems, just don't have the patience to buffer. According to a recent study by new online video analytic group Tubemogul, more than 81 percent of online video watchers will abandon a stream if it buffers a single time.

Online video viewers, it seems, just don't have the patience to buffer. According to a recent study by new online video analytic group Tubemogul, more than 81 percent of online video watchers will abandon a stream if it buffers a single time.

The study is based on a 192 stream sample taken over a two week period, based on the companies that provide video content for sites like ESPN, MSNBC, and Metacafe. The abandonment, naturally, doesn't bode well for video advertisers.

"The technology just isn't there yet to have a TV-like experience," the company's marketing director, David Burch, said about the study . "And if it's an advertiser hosting video on a branded site or distributing it across the Web, people are just clicking away when they see that spinning wheel."

Brian Heater has worked at a number of tech pubs, including Engadget, Laptop, and PCMag (where he served as Senior Editor). Most recently, he was as the Managing Editor of TechTimes.com. His writing has appeared in Spin, Wired, Playboy, Entertainment Weekly, The Onion, Boing Boing, Publishers Weekly, The Daily Beast and various other publications. He hosts the weekly Boing Boing interview podcast RiYL, has appeared as a regular NPR contributor and shares his Queens apartment with a rabbit named Lucy.
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